Project title
Albert Mueller
Object description

* 16 March 1884 in Schwandorf (Swabian Jura); † 26 June 1963 in Bremen
 
German painter and graphic artist
 
Albert Mueller is one of the most significant artists of Classical Modernity in Southwest Germany. His works are characterised by a reduction of forms and radiant colours.
After his study of philology and painting, from 1914, he becomes, at the Stuttgart Academy of Art, master pupil of Adolf Hölzel, one of the central pioneers of abstraction. The Stuttgart exhibition “Tierschicksale” [Animal Fates] with paintings by Franz Marc deepens his engagement with the Blue Rider School. From 1915/16 the painter employs expressive forms. From1916, through his participation in exhibitions, he is made known to a wider audience. His experiences in the Great War cause him to reflect more intensely on religious themes. As a member of the November Group from 1919, he contributes to their exhibitions. In 1919 Mueller is among the founders of the Stuttgart Üecht group. From the beginning of the 1920s stylistic elements of Cubism appear in his works. He becomes a member of the Stuttgart Secession in 1924, in whose exhibitions, from 1926 on, he shows works in the style of the New Objectivity. From October 1929 Mueller teaches at the Stuttgart State School of Applied Arts. During the National Socialist period, in 1937 his works at the Stuttgart State Gallery are confiscated and denounced as ‘degenerate’. In 1942, as a result of slander and defamation, he is compelled to leave his teaching position. After World War II he participates in the first exhibition of the re-established Stuttgart Secession in 1947. Participation in further exhibitions follows, notably in among others, the show “Hölzel und sein Kreis” [Hölzel and his Circle] in 1961.